The present invention relates to a payment card that is activated by a user.
Fraudulent financial transactions involving stolen personal financial information are becoming increasingly common. This personal financial information is often stolen because of insufficient security associated with payment cards (such as credit cards) that are used to conduct these financial transactions. For example, if a credit card is lost or stolen, it can be used to conduct fraudulent financial transactions until a provider of the credit card is notified and no longer authorizes financial transactions conducted using the credit card.
These security problems can be significantly increased for payment cards that communicate personal financial information via wireless communication. For example, some credit cards use radio-frequency identification (RFID) to communicate personal financial information in response to an external signal generated by a card reader at a point-of-sale terminal (such as a cash register) at a business. These credit cards allow customers to conduct financial transactions with a minimal amount of effort. In particular, instead of communicating personal financial information by swiping a magnetic strip on a credit card through the card reader, the personal financial information can be communicated by placing the credit card in close proximity to the card reader.
Unfortunately, this capability allows thieves to steal customers' personal financial information without stealing their credit cards, and thus, without the customers' knowledge. For example, a thief, who is proximate to a customer, can generate the external signal and receive the customer's personal financial information while the customer's credit card is still in the customer's wallet.